{"id":268340,"date":"2010-02-03T00:28:00","date_gmt":"2010-02-03T05:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16711557.post-4948003101690258122"},"modified":"2010-02-03T00:28:56","modified_gmt":"2010-02-03T05:28:56","slug":"after-massacre-guinea-sees-hope-of-lifted-chains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/268340","title":{"rendered":"After Massacre, Guinea Sees Hope of Lifted Chains"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Guinea opposition leaders have been appointed to positions in government following a massacre last year that killed over 150 people. Jean-Marie Dore, right, standing with his predecessor, Kabina Komara.<\/a>
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n

February 3, 2010
After Massacre, Guinea Sees Hope of Lifted Chains<\/p>\n

By ADAM NOSSITER
New York Times<\/p>\n

CONAKRY, Guinea \u2014 Something rare has happened in a region often given to brutal autocracy: power has been peacefully transferred to a civilian, just four months after an army massacre that recalled the worst of Africa\u2019s past.<\/p>\n

On Sept. 28, at least 150 demonstrators died in this city\u2019s main stadium. More than 100 women were raped or sexually abused, a United Nations panel found, while many other protesters were beaten \u2014 including the man who is now Guinea\u2019s prime minister.<\/p>\n

Now, the swift and unexpected turn of events has surprised Guineans, who wonder warily if the new prime minister, Jean-Marie Dor\u00e9, a gaunt and wily opposition leader who left the stadium bleeding, can actually deliver democracy in a country that has never truly known it. The omnipresent military, arbiter of power for decades, hovers in the background, a potential foot on the fragile plant of civilian rule.<\/p>\n

\u201cThings have happened so fast,\u201d said Sydia Tour\u00e9, a widely respected opposition leader.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is something we couldn\u2019t have imagined two months ago,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a new vision.\u201d<\/p>\n

People here are still trying to understand exactly how the transition occurred, as the larger question arises of whether Guinea holds any lessons for the region\u2019s future.<\/p>\n

It was, bitterly for Guineans, the massacre that might have finally unchained this long-repressed country. An unusual set of events followed: the grave wounding in December of the country\u2019s military dictator, Capt. Moussa Dadis Camara, in an assassination attempt; then what appeared to be acquiescence by his second-in-command, Gen. S\u00e9kouba Konat\u00e9, to a switch to civilian leadership; and finally the scene of hope last week when Mr. Dor\u00e9 took power and promised the nation its first truly free elections within the year.<\/p>\n

\u201cDemocracy!\u201d people shouted after Mr. Dor\u00e9 left a downtown restaurant, slapping the hands of well-wishers from his S.U.V. He was guarded, paradoxically, by the same cadre of red-bereted presidential guards responsible for the stadium massacre.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s you: Jean-Marie!\u201d the crowd yelled.<\/p>\n

Guinea could be the rare case in which swift international sanctions actually worked, politicians and diplomats here say. Sharp words from the United States and France in October were quickly followed by travel and aid bans, which struck hard in an impoverished land where over half the budget is financed from abroad.<\/p>\n

The United Nations and the International Criminal Court investigated the stadium massacre, with the United Nations focusing on the junta \u2014 including its erratic chief, Captain Camara \u2014 for crimes against humanity. Pressure built, and the government gave in.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe now know to what degree the international community is allergic to violations of human rights in general, and unpunished massacres in particular,\u201d Mr. Dor\u00e9 said in an interview last week, outside a raucous but hopeful \u2014 and aboveground \u2014 meeting of former opposition parties.<\/p>\n

Mr. Tour\u00e9, a former prime minister and now a likely candidate for president, said: \u201cThe pressure from the international community, the pressure was very strong, and very fast. The horizon was closed very quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n

All the makeshift promise and risk of this country\u2019s new democratic experiment were evident at the meeting of former opposition members, in a brightly painted open-air former restaurant called Buddies First. Representatives of about 40 political parties and 30 organizations crowded in. Leaders who a few months ago had gone into hiding, nursing wounds from the massacre, sat in the front row and cheered as the gathering chose a spokesman.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople have died for this,\u201d said the man eventually picked, Fran\u00e7ois Lons\u00e9ny Fall, a former prime minister.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a historic mission to give our country, for the first time, democratic institutions,\u201d he told the crowd.<\/p>\n

That will not be easy in Guinea, where one dictator has replaced another in the 52 years since its separation from France. First there was a Stalinist, S\u00e9kou Tour\u00e9, who saw plots everywhere and killed dozens of people to stamp them out; then a military man, Lansana Cont\u00e9, who bled the resource-rich country dry as his entourage enriched itself; and finally Captain Camara, who ruled until a disgruntled member of his guard shot him in the head early in December.<\/p>\n

Hope was tempered by wariness at the meeting. \u201cThere\u2019s a new momentum that is promising, but it must be well managed,\u201d said Mouctar Diallo, president of an opposition political party who was beaten at the stadium and forced into hiding afterward. \u201cWe are optimistic but vigilant.\u201d<\/p>\n

Much depends on General Konat\u00e9, a burly career military man whose decision to allow opposition forces to pick an interim prime minister \u2014 Mr. Dor\u00e9 \u2014 was critical in defusing Guinea\u2019s crisis. Diplomats here say General Konat\u00e9, the junta\u2019s ailing former defense minister, appears uninterested in political power. Unlike other senior officers, he was not implicated in the massacre, and he has publicly warned about the dangers of isolation and upbraided troops over extortion against civilians.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we have from Konat\u00e9 now is different,\u201d said Mr. Tour\u00e9, the opposition leader, referring to the tradition of political meddling by the military. \u201cThere is a sincerity there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Dor\u00e9, 71, is something of an unknown as well, despite a long presence on Guinea\u2019s political scene. He is from the same region, Guinea\u2019s forests, as Captain Camara, which helped secure him the position of intermediary between opposition forces and the junta.<\/p>\n

Mr. Dor\u00e9\u2019s main role is to form a government \u2014 with 10 representatives from the former opposition, 10 from the junta and 10 from provincial governments \u2014 and oversee preparations for elections. A fierce competition for these positions is now under way, and Mr. Dor\u00e9 is already being criticized for being too slow, a week after taking office.<\/p>\n

Elected twice to Guinea\u2019s largely impotent Parliament, Mr. Dor\u00e9 refused to sit in it after 2002 elections to protest electoral fraud, but he kept lines open to the country\u2019s succession of dictators, according to the Guinean press. On the nation\u2019s future, he gives the measured responses of a political professional.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t predict what\u2019s going to happen, but I think the army and its chief understand the necessity for Guinea of ending this incoherence,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

There have been brief outbursts of joy to greet what appeared to be the return of civilian rule, but also much wariness. Mr. Dor\u00e9 has given ambiguous statements about running for president, and some worry that he will be reluctant to hold elections in which he is not a candidate. Many also worry about the military.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really genuinely cheered that people are concerned here, that they aren\u2019t dropping their guard, assuming it\u2019s done,\u201d said the American ambassador in Conakry, Patricia N. Moller. \u201cBecause it\u2019s not done.\u201d<\/p>\n

That wary hope was evident. \u201cWe\u2019re a little relieved, but there is concrete work to be done,\u201d said Hourana Camara, a fisherman. \u201cWe haven\u2019t seen anything yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ian Fisher contributed reporting.
<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Guinea opposition leaders have been appointed to positions in government following a massacre last year that killed over 150 people. Jean-Marie Dore, right, standing with his predecessor, Kabina Komara.Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos February 3, 2010After Massacre, Guinea Sees Hope of Lifted Chains By ADAM NOSSITERNew York Times CONAKRY, Guinea \u2014 Something […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4243,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-268340","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268340","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4243"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=268340"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268340\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}